Is Snowboarding or Skiing Easier to Learn for Beginners?

If you’re thinking about joining us on the mountain this season, welcome! The question that will come to mind next is whether snowboarding is actually easier to learn than skiing.

The quick answer is that it will be for some people and won’t be for others. It depends on your preferences, your body’s natural ability to balance, and which you seem to like more, so that you’ll practice it more (which looks cooler to you).

Skiing is More Popular Stat-wise

Now, here are the latest stats. Worldwide, there are more skiers than snowboarders. The latest stat is actually 65% skiers / 35% snowboarders (Grand View Research, 2024). This statistic shows that out of 20 people, 13 would choose to learn to ski and 7 would learn to snowboard.

So statistically speaking, almost 2:1 people trying to answer this question would decide to learn to ski over snowboarding.

But which is easier to learn, though? Let’s find out.

Your Balance Preferences: Sideways or Straight On?

When you see yourself going down the mountain, are you straight on or are you sideways?

To add to that, have you ever skateboarded or learned another board sport? If so, you might already have the balance behind snowboarding down.

If not, have you rollerbladed or roller skated? If you have, you might already have the balance down to learn to ski.

Where I am going with this is that it comes down to your preferences and past experiences for similar activities. If you already are a board sport kind of person, then go with snowboarding.

If you’re more someone who feels most stable in your body’s natural straight on stance, or the position we all walk in, then go with skiing.

The decision is going to be that simple because everyone learns differently and everyone is coming from different backgrounds, so there is no exact science to say one is easier than another. So select the one you have more of a foundational understanding of.

Practice Matters, So Pick the One That Looks Cooler to You

Time on your board or skis is the real secret to learning. You’ll need to practice both to really get the feel of them down.

If you have it in the back of your mind that one looks a little lamer than the other, you’ll eventually switch to the cooler-looking one (as you see people on the mountain completely killing it on the other). So pick the one that looks cooler to you, and stick with it.

The decision is that simple.

For a Child, Isn’t Skiing Going to Be More Intuitive to Learn over Snowboarding?

Yes, skiing is typically easier for a very young child to learn at first.

This is because the learning process is very different for a small child (say, 3 to 7 years old) than it is for an adult or a teenager.

So while the “it depends” answer I shared above still applies, most ski and snowboard instructors will tell you the same thing:

Skiing is easier to teach to kids under seven years old.

Here’s Why:

The Stance: Think about how your kid moves. They walk and run “straight on.” Skiing lets them stay in that natural, forward-facing stance, the same position they already walk in (and if they aren’t walking yet, read this again next year).
- Snowboarding has your child balancing sideways, which can be a strange feeling for them that doesn’t always click as fast.
The “Fun” Factor: Kids need to have fun on the first day while they’re learning any new activity. On skis, an instructor can get them sliding around in a “pizza” stance on the bunny hill pretty quickly. This stance is just where they point the tips of their skis toward each other to make a shape like a slice of pizza. It acts like a snowplow and gives your child the stability to learn at a slower pace. In the pizza stance, they’ll get that immediate feeling of “I’m really doing it!” and that’s everything for keeping a kid happy and making them feel successful enough to want to do it again.
The Frustration: Snowboarding can be rough on the very first day. You’ll fall a lot as you learn to balance. For a child, it can be frustrating if they don’t get it down on the first day. You might get hit with the “I am done” attitude before you’re actually ready to leave.
What the Ski Schools Do: Here’s a good clue. Look at the resort’s lesson programs. Most will start kids on skis as young as 3 or 4. But they will not offer snowboard lessons to kids until they are 6 or 7. They do that for a reason. Really, little kids have more fun skiing on the first day, so they stick with it. Ski resorts learned from experience that it doesn’t make sense to offer snowboard lessons to someone that young.

So, for a young child under seven years old, the decision is actually a bit simpler. Starting them on skis will almost always lead to a more positive experience on the first day, and that will lead them to wanting to come back to practice. Kids can always switch over to snowboarding when they’re a little older and ready for that sideways balance.

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Steve Weber

Steve Weber is the passionate snowboarder, skateboarder, and author behind Board of the World. He understands that most gear reviews focus on having the perfect snow conditions, but his testing methodology is different. Living in Pennsylvania, Steve describes exactly how a board performs when the conditions aren’t perfect. His reviews cover performance on ice, hardpack, and flat-out brick conditions. In other words, he reviews boards for the conditions that East Coast riders actually face.

Bringing 27 years of East Coast snowboarding and 21 years of skateboarding experience, Steve is a 42-year-old intermediate park rider. His recommendations are informed by decades of battling icy conditions, ensuring every review accounts for the board’s performance on the roughest of terrain.

For the last five years, Steve has poured his passion into writing in-depth, unbiased reviews that help riders make informed decisions about the gear they’ll use. He also works part-time at a snowboard shop in Northeastern Pennsylvania, which gives him a direct line to learning about the new gear tech months in advance. When he’s not writing reviews, Steve is often found riding at Montage Mountain and testing out new boards.

Steve’s goal with Board of the World is simple: to help every reader find the right gear so they can have fun outside from the first time they use it.